Henry Bonsu

“Lazor Wulf”

The road to a series on Adult Swim was long but surprisingly direct for Bonsu, creator of Adult Swim’s colorful pop-art hangout confection “Lazor Wulf,” about a wolf with a laser on his back who hangs with pals including Stupid Horse and God in laid-back Strongburg.

“Lazor Wulf” began with Bonsu riffing with friends on the popularity of three-wolf T-shirts and turning it into a short comic he posted on Tumblr. “I kind of treated the comics like fan art for something that hasn’t come out yet,” says Bonsu, who studied animation at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. “Weirdly enough, 50 people — or maybe less — dug it enough to continue to motivate me to keep drawing it.”

The idea stuck with him as he landed a job in L.A. creating “GIF News” for Fox’s Animation Domination HD late-night block. Developing the show with Daniel Weidenfeld, he pitched it to Adult Swim as ADHD was closing and got a quick approval to make a pilot and then a series. The 10-episode first season took about two years to produce and debuted April 7.

Free of health issues that reduced his role on the first season and eager to do more on the just-announced second, Bonsu says the show aims for a mood in its 11-minute segments. “I wanted to create a place where there’s a wolf with a laser on his back, so you’ll have trouble feeling alienated,” he says. “I want it to feel like what you feel like when you watch a music video, your favorite music video, something that you’re just like: ‘Wow. It’s over, but it felt like a nice ride, a nice vibe.’”

— Thomas J. McLean

Jeremy Clapin

“I Lost My Body”

Midway through making “I Lost My Body,” Clapin was convinced he never wanted to direct another animated feature again. But then all the pieces came together, and he reconsidered, further emboldened when “I Lost My Body” won the Grand Prize at Cannes Critics’ Week, followed by the top feature prize and audience kudo at Annecy Intl. Animated Film Festival one month later.

“In the middle of a production, there is always a time of crisis since all the teams on the film are layered and you feel like you’re running after everything,” says the French animator, who previously won prizes for a short entitled “Skhizein.” “I was thinking at that point, ‘No more animated features ever again!’ But it is like being at the top of a hill: Problems get progressively solved, departments wrap one by one, you get more visibility, and see the light at the end of the tunnel. So at the end, you want to do it again.”

Clapin, who began creating flipbooks as a schoolboy, chose a challenging project for his debut animated feature: “I Lost My Body” tells the story of a severed hand navigating the streets of Paris in search of its remaining limbs. It’s an adaptation of Guillaume Laurant’s novel “Happy Hand,” and he shares screenplay credit with Laurant. “It was different, strange,” Clapin says of the project’s appeal. “A hand has no expression, no voice, no eyes. How do you give empathy to her so we want to follow her?”

He used a mix of 2D and 3D animation to create the painterly tale, both witty and melancholic. Generally, Clapin prefers 2D animation because it allows for a more imperfect, human feel. But computer animation is a powerful tool, “so I try to break the rules and to find a way between 2D and 3D, to get the advantages of both without the drawbacks and limitations.”

Next up: Beyond promoting “I Lost My Body,” due on Netflix later this year, he’s got his eye on two projects based on his own scripts. One is animated and the other live action. Both are feature-length.

— Diane Garrett

Emily Dean

“Tao”

One immediately senses that filmmaker Dean adores her craft. “Animated storytelling allows you to build truly imaginative worlds, in ways that other media can’t provide,” she says. And finding a personal connection to the material is imperative for the Chinese-Australian artist. “I absolutely love to put myself into the characters I’m creating, and I’m interested in telling stories that talk about where we’re headed in the future, and how technology both complicates and helps our lives.”

She’s directing the Sony Pictures Animation feature “Tao,” a project that she’s incredibly excited about. “It’s all very secretive at this point as the plot is being kept under wraps, but it’s a sci-fi adventure set in China, and it’s going to be spectacular,” she says. She “loves to push boundaries in my work,” which is not a surprise for someone who grew up idolizing the films of Peter Jackson, George Miller and Peter Weir. “Animators love to take risks, and I’m thrilled by new opportunities that are born out of technological advances.”

Dean is also attached to direct the adaptation of Katherine Applegate’s award-winning children’s book “Wishtree” for Netflix, and previously worked in the Warner Bros. story department under Phil Lord and Christopher Miller on “The Lego Batman Movie,” “The Lego Movie 2” and “The Lego Pirate Movie.” Her animated short, “Forget Me Not,” won an Australian Academy Award, and her live-action debut, the sci-fi short “Andromeda,” recently screened at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

— Nick Clement

Trevor Dalmer

Laika

Dalmer has served as key concept artist and end credits designer on four stop-motion animated films from Laika, including “Missing Link,” “Kubo and the Two Strings,” “The Boxtrolls” and “ParaNorman.” He’s now working as production designer on the studio’s untitled, ultra-secretive sixth film.

“We’re breaking new ground with our next project, which we’ve been working on for over two years,” he says. “In the last year we’ve really stepped it up with more hands on deck. It’s important to work hard and never stop learning.”

A graduate of Canada’s prestigious animation school, Sheridan College, Dalmer arrived at Laika’s Portland, Ore., headquarters with a strong portfolio and immense passion for his craft. “My education helped me stay proactive, and I’ve become so thrilled to be working at Laika with all of these incredible collaborators. I think about my experience and journey often, and I’ve been very lucky.”

And it’s the sense of community that’s fostered at Laika that strongly appeals to Dalmer as an artist. “We’re a smaller company, so anyone can try their hand and something that they’re interested in,” he says.

The biggest challenges seem to inspire Dalmer the most. “Doing what I do is a treat because you get to conceive a visual idea, and then plan it and design it and see it to completion. There’s a huge amount of payoff at the end of the process. I’m always working because I absolutely love doing it. You’re working in a real wonderland of art.”

— Nick Clement

Valerie LaPointe

“Toy Story 4”

After watching “The Little Mermaid” at the age of 8, LaPointe wanted to complete one of two life goals: go into animation or become a mermaid.

Only the former came to fruition, as she would go on work on animated films such as “Brave,” “Inside Out” and “Toy Story 4.”

She studied animation at USC and enrolled as a member of the first class of the story internship at Pixar through the university. As a story artist on Pixar projects, LaPointe had a lot of input on the story. “Because of how much story artists contribute to the actual story in terms of character development and figuring things out, you feel like you’re part of the process of building and creating the film,” she says.

LaPointe received a story-by credit on “Toy Story 4.”

Coming up with the tale for the film was a collaborative effort. “It’s hard to place specific ownership on things because we threw [ideas] out there and others built off of it.”

She came up with the idea of the Gabby Gabby villain doll. “I really wanted to have a girl baby doll character in the ‘Toy Story’ universe [to have] more female toy characters in general. But also, why was there never a baby doll? It’s so signature of every little girl.” She says the doll was inspired by one that her mom had as an adult. Of all the toys around the house while LaPointe was growing up, that was the one that was off-limits.

LaPointe is in the middle of directing a short for Disney Plus, centered on “Toy Story’s” Bo Peep called “Lamp Life.”

— Dano Nissen

Malenga Mulendema

“Mama K’s Team 4”

In 2014 when Triggerfish Animation Studios’ Story lab put a call out across Africa for animators, Mulendema applied.

“Growing up in Zambia, there were not very many characters [on the screen] looking like me,” she says. “I got interested in writing and thought then I can do something visual.”

The Lusaka native was interested in writing for live-action films and didn’t have an animation background, but when she was chosen for the Cape Town workshop in August 2015, Mulendema planned “something fun” for her pitch.

The result was “Mama K’s Team 4,” about a quartet of African girls who are kickass superheroes. It was one of eight pitches that were developed by the story lab. Netflix will now release the series, which was shown the Annecy Intl. Animated Film Festival in May. It is the streaming platform’s first animated series from Africa.

“Going to Annecy was very exciting,” she says. “It was my first time. Basically I’d been working in Lusaka, so meeting people who have been working in animation their whole lives … telling me about the show was such an experience.”

Mulendema credits the workshop for giving her the appropriate animation training. “I thought I wouldn’t understand, but day by day I have learned,” she says. “It’s a new world I’m entering and daily I am learning something new.”

Mulendema also praises her illustrator, Cameroonian Malcolm Wopea. “Malcolm is super-talented,” she says.

“When I came back from the workshop I was amazed at what people were doing in South Africa. We don’t have an industry per se [in Zambia], but people are very creative … many young people are very talented.”

While she is batting around ideas for her next project, Mulendema is paying it forward by setting up a women’s writing group in Africa for another show. The call for writers brought 600 applications that Triggerfish Animation is sorting through, she says. The workshop will be set up in Lusaka, “and we will go from there.”

— Shalini Dore

Natalie Nourigat

“Ralph Breaks the Internet”

Nourigat came into animation in a “roundabout” way.

She started out making comic books. “I decided comics could give me all the stuff I love: drawing and storytelling. I didn’t have to go to the ‘right’ school. I could do [comic books] and publish it online. There weren’t any gatekeepers.”

But a visit to the 2014 Annecy Film Festival was a pivotal moment in Nourigat’s turn to animation. “It blew my mind. I came back to the U.S. really pumped up about animation and wanting to try it even though I had
no experience.”

Nourigat was accepted into Disney’s experimental animation Short Circuit program with her idea for “Exchange Student.” She developed the short over four months with Disney. The Short Circuit program began in 2016 and develops animators’ experimental films. “A lot of us [in Short Circuit] have ambition to tell our stories or to direct. It’s been amazing to try that out in a framework where you’re being set up for success and you have mentors along the way. The stakes are lower, so there’s this opportunity to be experimental.”

On “Exchange Student,” Nourigat pushed herself outside her comfort zone by experimenting with animated watercolors. “A lot of us chose art styles we were not one hundred percent sure would work. We got to test them out.”

The Short Circuit shorts will be available on Disney’s streaming platform Disney Plus.

Nourigat went on to work on “Ralph Breaks the Internet” with Disney in the animation department. “I came in as this paid artist, but I was also getting an education at the same time as a story apprentice.”

With these experiences under her belt, Nourigat is excited to take on more directing opportunities. “Any blend of comics story-
boarding and directing [and] I think I could be really happy,” she says.

— Dano Nissen

Troy Quane

“Spies in Disguise”

“Animation is my home and has always been my passion. I’ve been working in this medium for over 20 years and I’ve always been in love with it,” says Quane, who is directing his feature debut, “Spies in Disguise,” alongside Nick Bruno, for Blue Sky Studios/Fox Animation. It will be released on Christmas Day.

Getting to riff on the spy genre has been great fun for him as a director. “It’s a big, bold spy comedy, a really sweet and funny story about an odd couple who change each other’s lives for the better. It’s got genre elements that people love with some great setpieces,” Quane says. But it always comes down to the characters and to the story for Quane to be completely satisfied. “Technology is an amazing tool and it allows you to accomplish so much, but we’re always trying to communicate something to the audience. No matter the technology, it’s always about the storytelling.”

Quane worked as a lead animator on Walt Disney’s “Enchanted,” and has also served as a storyboard artist on “Ferdinand” for Fox Animation and “Hotel Transylvania” for Sony Animation. “I’ve worked in so many areas of the industry, and the most satisfying part of the process is when you share the material with someone who then has a true emotional reaction to it. You’ve created real emotion out of something that’s not technically real, and that’s an exciting feeling.”

— Nick Clement

Miguel Puga

“The Casagrandes”

Puga would copy stills from Nickelodeon’s “Rocko’s Modern Life” as an 8 year old growing up in East L.A. When school teachers asked him, “Who drew this for you?” he knew he could be an animator.

Puga worked as a storyboard artist on a number of shows, including the series “The Loud House” on Nickelodeon — the network he “bled orange” for since his childhood fascination with “Rocko’s Modern Life.” His work on the show would lead to the spinoff series “The Casagrandes,” which is set to premiere this fall.

He recounts the genesis of the spinoff: “I sat with ‘The Loud House’ writers and they brought this up. They wanted to pitch this idea about Ronnie and Bobby. They had this idea about making a special, it wasn’t a spinoff back then.” The idea became “The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos” which follows Ronnie and Bobby as they visit their extended Mexican-American family.

Puga says:, “They wanted to know which direction they should go [from me] having the experience of being Mexican-American. Pretty much everything you see in the special ‘Relative Chaos’ is every part of me growing up.” Many of the characters are based on Puga’s relatives. Even his grandma’s stomach-ache cure makes an appearance.

Now, Ronnie and Bobby are getting an upcoming show of their own with “The Casagrandes.” Puga is excited to put on a show centering on a Mexican-American family. “I feel a huge responsibility, especially to have a show that represents so much of America. I got so lucky that I got to hire a lot of people that could represent the show on our crew,” he says.

Whether it be his work for Nickelodeon or his future ambitions of directing live- action projects, Puga applies advice from his father: “There’s a thing my Dad used to tell me, ‘echale ganas.’ It’s Spanish for ‘give it your all.’”

— Dano Nissen

Keely Propp

“The Willoughbys,” “The Addams Family”

Propp is just three years out of college and already has worked as a storyboard artist on four upcoming features: “Arctic Dogs,” “The Addams Family,” “The Willoughbys” and “Pinocchio.” “It was always my goal to go straight into features after college,” she says.

Propp has been laser-focused on getting an education in fine arts and pursuing animation as a career since a young age. “When I saw my first episode of ‘Sailor Moon,’ I just knew, ‘Well, if I can’t be a magical girl, maybe I can draw this.’” She enrolled in
a public arts high school in her home state of Minnesota and briefly studied fine arts in Japan. But she wanted to get animation-specific, so she applied and was accepted to an animation program at Sheridan College.

During her time at Sheridan and at an internship with Sony Image Works, Propp racked up experience with storyboarding. Her thesis film “Home Hunting” was one of many projects that sharpened her storyboarding skills. Propp describes the film: “It’s about a girl who believes that she is the only human left in the universe. She has a pocket watch and every time she clicks it she gets transported to a new world where she is searching for humankind.” 

At graduation, studios began approaching Propp with storyboarding jobs. Propp explains her job as a storyboard artist, “I like to do a nice full rough board. We’ll make some major changes, I tighten up the drawings a little. We just try to build up the scene in a layered way that’s nice and organic so we can continue to improve the scene each time we work on it.”

As for her future, Propp hopes to direct features while still returning to her storyboarding roots. “Both sides inform each other. I would love to work at places like Netflix that invest in interesting projects both visually and story-wise and one day have a studio of my own,” she says.

— Dano Nissen